A New York stock trader pleaded guilty to paying thousands of dollars in cash bribes to a broker at an investment banking firm in exchange for preferential access to lucrative IPOs, New Jersey U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.Adam Rentzer, 52, of Roslyn, New York, admitted Monday in Trenton federal court to one count of violating the Travel Act by engaging in commercial bribery. He faces as long as five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 when he's sentenced Jan. 11, according to the U.S.
Rentzer was described by prosecutors as a trader who bought and sold securities in initial and secondary public stock offerings, including those marketed by two New York-based investment banking firms that employed broker Brian Hirsch.
Rentzer admitted that between mid-2013 and January 2017, he and an unidentified co-conspirator paid cash kickbacks to Hirsch — who worked on the wealth syndicate desk — based on an agreed-upon percentage of the profits realized from the sales of shares purchased in the stock offerings, Carpenito said.